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Installation

Installation

Install LOVE-LANG from source, set up your editor, and get the build tools running.

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

LOVE-LANG is built with Gleam and compiles via the Gleam toolchain.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”

Before installing LOVE-LANG, ensure you have:

  • Gleam >= 1.0.0 — gleam.run/getting-started/
  • Erlang/OTP >= 26 or Node.js >= 20 (for Gleam’s JavaScript target)
  • Git for cloning the repository

Install from Source

Section titled “Install from Source”

  1. Clone the repository

    Terminal window
    git clone https://github.com/love-metalang/love-lang
    cd love-lang/love

  2. Install dependencies

    Terminal window
    gleam deps download

  3. Build the project

    Terminal window
    gleam build

  4. Run the tests

    Terminal window
    gleam test

  5. Install globally (optional)

    Terminal window
    gleam run -- install

Building the Core

Section titled “Building the Core”
Terminal window
cd love/core
gleam build --target erlang
gleam run

VS Code Extension

Section titled “VS Code Extension”

LOVE-LANG has a dedicated VS Code extension (vscode-love) that provides:

  • Syntax highlighting for .love, .love.toml, and .edn files
  • Bracket level coloring (L1–L5)
  • IntelliSense for built-in keywords
  • REPL integration

Install from Source

Section titled “Install from Source”
Terminal window
cd vscode-love
npm install
npm run compile
# Then: Ctrl+Shift+P → "Developer: Install Extension from Location"

Project Structure

Section titled “Project Structure”

After installing, you’ll find:

love-metalang/
├── love/          # Core language implementation (Gleam)
│   ├── core/      # Main evaluator
│   ├── compiler/  # Compilation pipeline
│   ├── examples/  # Example .love programmes
│   └── docs/      # Language specifications
├── vscode-love/   # VS Code extension
├── std/           # Standard library
└── web/           # This documentation site

Configuration

Section titled “Configuration”

LOVE-LANG uses gleam.toml for project configuration:

gleam.toml
name    = "my-love-project"
version = "1.0.0"


description = "A project built with LOVE"
licences    = ["MIT"]


[dependencies]
gleam_stdlib = ">= 0.44.0 and < 2.0.0"


[dev-dependencies]
gleeunit = ">= 1.0.0 and < 2.0.0"